Saving the Kid Who Speaks in Hands
by AlithiaSigma
Summary: Sans sees the look on the kid's face... And it's contradicting the message of their hands.
1. Sans meets Frisk

The face said "I will fight you, over and over again, as long as it takes, until I can kill you." The hands however, begged and pleaded for help, guilty and shaking.

Sans was used to reading faces. Most skeletons didn't have far too much by way of facial expressions. Though there were a few like his brother, gifted with the ability to express themselves with ease, most skeletons had a difficult time doing so, and had to learn to read every subtlety in a face. Coupled with a human's vast range of facial features, for a smart skeleton like Sans, who had encountered humans more than once before, reading humans through their faces was child's play.

Hands? Not so much. And yet, Sans couldn't help but find something familiar about the way the kid signed.

This language of motions and gestures was not too uncommon in the Underground, as some monsters were born without mouths or ears, but this... this was different.

Most monsters who did have two hands, each with five fingers, did not tend to use it. Monsters with hands tended to have ears and mouths as well, and generally lived with other monsters that did, designing infrastructure that took advantage of their dexterity and opposable thumbs.

The language itself changed a little, depending on how many and what sort of limbs and appendages a monster had, much akin to dialects, but a basic knowledge of the language in general rendered even the strangest versions of it fairly comprehensible, give or take.

And yet, Sans understood each motion perfectly. As if he'd studied this particular dialect, even used it himself, perhaps, his whole life. So as he said "kids like you... Should be burning in hell," he asked the child how he could help, his fingers naturally falling into place, even as he used his magic to attack.

The kid grabbed their knife and lunged at Sans, but the free hand had motioned to where the knife was headed. He didn't need the warning to dodge the blow, but the act suggested that something in the child was fighting their own actions.

Sans took his turn, and while the child dodged expertly around the bones and blasters, the human told him to keep watch, not let his guard down, and watch carefully. All things he already intended to do. But what he didn't expect? That they would expect him to trust them. And yet that is what the kid told him to do. Trust.

Another motion to where the knife was aiming. Another missed knife attack.

Sans told the kid about the timelines while he told them that trust would be difficult.

The child continued to dodge in silence, while emphatically demanding that Sans wear down their determination. They spoke in third person.

Sans watched their face carefully. Still murderous, psychopathic,. Determined. And yet...

"I know you're in there, buddy. c'mere."

Their face scowled, and there was barely enough time for a warning motion before the knife sliced air again.

"you look pissed. did i getcha?"

And so the fight continued. Turns passed. They continued to talk without speaking, while Sans uttered taunts, trying to get them to give up. Sans expressed fearing that he was becoming tired, that he wouldn't be able to make it. The child gave him encouragement, telling him to stay determined, even as they ate a piece of snowman to heal their wounds.

The child told them that their name was Frisk. That once, their determination gave them the power to befriend everyone. To save the world.

It wasn't until too late Frisk realized the determination wasn't really their own. But now, it was beginning to wear thin enough to let them have just enough control to speak like this.

And they hoped Sans would eradicate it.

Sans, despite his wariness and doubts, believed the kid. He wasn't too surprised. Enough determination could manipulate time itself, but so much determination was unlikely to be natural.

Eventually, Sans reached his limit, and he was forced to use his special attack or collapse where he stood.

And despite his will, he couldn't stay awake forever. Slowly, he dozed off. Until they attacked again. "Did you" another warning "really think" a second dodge, "that you could actually" a third warning, "hit me" a third dodge, "like that?"

If the kid was planning to betray him, that would have been the perfect time. Sans' grin widened almost imperceptibly and his eye flared brighter than it did before. This proof, the evidence that he could trust the child who spoke in hand... It filled him with _**determination.**_

"let's finish this, kid."


	2. Sans meets Gaster

**Author's Note:** When you see the name "Chara" I suggest you mentally replace it with whatever you named the fallen child. Or your own name. For me, the Fallen Child is a she, and her name is Lith. You can do this with other fanfics as well.

* * *

The face was the very picture of rage... but then twisted into a sickening grin.

"Something's different about you..." said the child, "You going to put up a fight this time?"

The hands told him to not let them taunt him. Told him not to give up. That they were rooting for him.

"You know, Sans... This wouldn't be the first time I've killed you." They grabbed the knife and pointed it at Sans."You were supposed to die back there, you know." They smirked. "This was going to be the last time, too. The last time I'd come back to save everyone. The last time I'd come back to kill everyone. I was getting bored of you all. I only came back for the nostalgia. But now? Now something's different. This... Is going to be fun."

Sans took his turn, firing blasters and bone attacks at the human. His new-found determination did not stop his fatigue, but helped him drive through it.

The kid no longer signed at him with their hands. It seemed Sans wasn't the only one who gained some more determination. But not enough to stop them from warning him every time they were about to attack.

When his attack finished and the kid took their turn, they took the time to check him again. They blanched, seeing the change in Sans' stats.

"Well, kiddo, you're looking pretty chilled to the bone." His grin stayed, as he flung another row of bones at them. They dodged the attack with ease.

"Your stats may have increase, but I still have more determination than you. And you can't keep dodging forever." A warning, a dodge. "I can see it in your eyes, your movements. You're still getting tired. You might kill me, but I'll come back. But if I kill you? You're still going to be dead."

Sans grin didn't falter. Each turn, he sent another wave of attacks. Each turn, the kid dodged.

Eventually, Sans hit them, a single bone knocking out a bit of the human's HP. The karmic retribution continued to burn at their soul for moments after.

But even as he saw that he was finally getting somewhere, he slipped up. He didn't miss the warning, but the human swung wider than he expected, hitting him. As he was knocked to his feet, and ketchup poured out of the slice in his clothes, he felt himself melting. And yet, something was holding him together. Something was keeping every particle of his body together, stopping his bones from turning into paste. He felt like a liquid in a container, and something was surrounding him, preventing him from spilling.

He got up, but the child hit him again as he did so. And again. And again. And then all went black.

He heard a voice. It was garbled, and filled with static, but though it was quite difficult, he could make out the words.

"Sans," it said, "Stay determined. You can get through this."

Sans opened his eyesockets, his pupils flickering in the darkness. He saw himself face-to-face with... a face. He was pretty sure it was a skeleton's face, though its teeth were missing, and it seemed somewhat droopy, as if melted. He looked down, and found that his bones were covered in some sort of black substance, and a multitude of skeletal hands, with holes in their palms, were holding the black substance to them. In fact, below the melted skeleton head was mostly the same black substance, with hints of bone flickering in and out of existence.

He was nowhere, and the only way he could describe his surroundings was that they were... nothing.

The melted skeleton's smile became more sincere, as the same garbled voice spoke again. "Sans, you made it!" It stopped, was pensive, then started again, "You don't... remember me... do you?"

"i..." Sans started. He'd never heard that voice before. He wasn't sure if he'd recognize the face, even if it wasn't droopy and melted. But there was something familiar about the hands. "i don't know."

The goopy, blackness-clad skeleton noticed how Sans was looking at his hands. He waved the two at his sides, which were less defined, as their fingers had fused together, and summoned two more hands. The hands started signing. The melted skeleton introduced himself as Dr. W. D. Gaster.

Without thinking, Sans signed back a pun that didn't translate well from the language, as one of the motions in the doctor's name was similar to a different motion Sans chose to use to response.

Gaster gave a static-filled laugh, as if he hadn't seen a bad pun in a thousand years, and signed with one of his own.

After this exchange of really bad and lazily written puns, Gaster told Sans that he was watching, that Sans could reset the world with their combined determination.

Sans asked who Gaster was, what happened to him, and what the black stuff covering his bones was.

Gaster answered that he was the scientist who made the Core, and that he fell into his creation, becoming scattered through time and space. He gave a long, technical, scientific explanation of the substance. To summarize, it was nothing, and yet it was something. It did not exist, and yet it was holding Sans together more firmly than magic could. It never changed, and yet it was fluid. It was not created. It could not be destroyed. It was impossible, and yet it existed. A paradox.

When Gaster first entered this sort of strange and non-existent existence, he was melting, but in time, the immaterial matter clung to him, and he stopped melting. Unlike Sans, he could not leave, as his existence had been erased. But Sans had only died.

Sans was surprised at how Gaster signed as if death were not a big deal. But to him, it wasn't, as Sans could reset time itself. Though time did not exist where they were, and where they were did not exist, Gaster assured Sans that even as they spoke, Frisk was fighting against Chara's determination. Chara. That's what they were called. Gaster had been watching the whole time, and all of the timelines.

Sans opened his eyesockets, his pupils flickering about in the darkness. He'd woken up in the middle of the night again. He looked at his fingers. No black stuff there. What a weird dream. "gaster..." The melted dream skeleton said he built the Core. Couldn't be. Everyone knew the Core was built by... someone. He'd remember later.

He rolled over and looked at the nearest clock. 4:28 in the morning. He wanted to go back to sleep, but something wouldn't let him. Well, he had a nightmare about a kid killing everyone, and then him, not surprising that he didn't really feel like going back to that. Maybe he'd go see if that lady behind the door was having trouble sleeping too. If not, maybe the change of environment would help him sleep.

He lit up his eye, using the light to see. He got off of the couch and headed to the washroom to take a shower. On his way there, he saw his reflection and stopped.

"whoa..." Sans raised a hand to the mirror, waving it in front of him as if his reflection were an illusion.

Both of Sans eyes were lit up.

He rushed out of the the washroom and grabbed his phone, looking for the date and time.

It wasn't a dream. He had Reset.


	3. Sans meets Toriel

The first thing Sans knew he had to do was make sure the lady behind the door didn't get hurt. He still had a day before the kid would come out of that door.

He remembered having fallen asleep beside the door on what was the next night, after a long exchange of bad jokes and casual conversation, then waking up the next day to the sound of the human's footsteps approaching the door.

Sans walked out of his room, stepping onto the path in front of the Ruins door as if it existed directly outside of his own door. He walked to the door and knocked twice.

"Who's there?" It seems that the lady behind the door was also awake,

"sans." Sans put his hands in his pockets.

"Sans who?"

"sans i can't sleep tonight, i decided to tell some bad knock-knock jokes and actually introduce myself. sans the skeleton."

Silence. And then, two knocks.

"who's there?"

"Ice."

"ice who?"

"Ice to meet you, Sans. My name is Toriel."

They both laughed. It made sense. The Queen of Monsters left, and it seems the theory/rumor that she began living in the ruins was true. And when it came to jokes, her timing was impeccable. Sans wondered why they didn't introduce themselves in the other timeline. Sans supposed he just... never bothered. And never cared to ask. And she died without them even knowing each other's names. There was so much he should have said then. Sans was struck by a pang of guilt. His apathy, his nihilism, his lack of will to act had cost the lives of his friends and his brother. Now, he had the chance to make it truly right, and he was determined to do so. This opportunity wasn't going to slip through his fingers.

"toriel, um, may i talk to you for a bit?" Sans sat down, leaning against the door.

"Of course, Sans. I would never shun the company of a _bone_ -ified friend." They shared a snicker.

"well, this friend has been _skull-_ king around for a bit and would appreciate being lent a _hand_." To emphasize this, he shook his hand a little, rattling its bones. After a few giggles, Sans began to explain things.

He explained that he knew that time had been reset. That the timelines were jumping back and forth, starting and stopping. He knew that this was the work of a human child with an incredible deal of determination. He warned Toriel about them. He glossed over the fight he had, skipping over how he had watched while the human killed people one by one. He told her the important things. He had reset time, and he wasn't sure he could do it again. He insisted that no matter what happened, that she wouldn't let the human kill her.

"promise me, toriel. promise me that if you see dust on their hands, run. don't let them touch you. please."

Knock knock.

This was going to be good. "who's there?"

"Canoe."

"canoe who?"

"Canoe come in for a moment? I am opening the door."

Now that was unexpected. Before Sans found a proper response, the door opened. As he was asked to, he stepped in, and the moment he did, he was hugged.

Had Papyrus been there, he would have been proud of how well he'd trained his brother to receive hugs, as Sans wasted little time gaping before returning the hug.

"My apologies if this was unexpected... but it sounded like you needed that."

Sans closed his eyesockets, grinning. "thank you, toriel."

They held the hug for a bit, and Sans was comforted by the woman's compassion and warmth.

"Would you like to stay for a bit? I would enjoy the company, and if what you say is true, preparations will have to be made to ensure the safety of the monsters in the Ruins."

"yes, yes please." It felt like too, too long since the last time they talked, though it was only yesterday from Toriel's perspective. Was this how the human felt when they reset? How many times have they done it? How much determination did they have?!

So they walked to Toriel's home.

"You do intend to tell your brother what you have told me, am I correct?"

"yeah. i don't wanna worry him but... what happened last time... i can't let it happen again. i warned you first because you'd be the first to see them."

Toriel nodded. "Good."

Then they began talking. Mostly idle small-talk with a number of puns thrown in for good measure. Sans realized that if he'd never reset, he'd have never seen her smile, or the way her eyes sparkled in the light of the fireplace. The reminder of what he had to protect filled him with determination.

Some time during the night, Toriel brought out a snail pie and drinks. Sans protested at first, saying it wasn't necessary, but caved pretty quickly. And the pie was _divine._ The snails were soft and somewhat chewy, with a light, slightly sweet, lemony flavour. He wondered if the recipe was as complex as rocket science. It'd have to be. There couldn't be an easy way to make snails taste so good.

Nearly morning, they said their farewells and Sans went to bed. Though his sheets were balled up, Sans chose to sleep in his room, as Papyrus would have woken him up only two hours later if he did not. Which was usually fine, but he didn't usually spend a large portion of the night in the Ruins chatting amicably with Toriel and eating pie.

Sans woke up with a slight headache. Or skull-ache. Same thing. He looked around, half expecting to see the final corridor leading to the throne room. Nope. Still wasn't a dream. This was going to take some getting used to.

He checked the time.

To say that he was late for work would be an understatement. To say that he was very late for work would be only slightly less of an understatement.

Fortunately, Papyrus had sentry duty covered, and he was his own manager for his other jobs. He thought for a bit, and managed to remember the two monsters who would have bought hot dogs from his stand had he not slept for the entire day, as they did before... the last time the day occurred. Though there wasn't much he was going to be doing with that information.

The human also hadn't come during the day. That was scheduled for tomorrow. Unless they had. If they'd remembered...

Sans sat bolt upright, eyes glowing. If they remembered and made it through the Ruins faster than they did last time, or chose to fall sooner, they could already be in Snowdin. Papyrus could be in danger, or even dead and what did he do? Stay up all night and sleep in.

He took a shortcut downstairs, neglecting to throw the ball of blankets off him first, and as a result, accidentally brought them with him.

"pap—oof!" He was suddenly blinded as the covers fell on top of his skull and surrounded his head.

"AH, SANS! YOU'RE FINALLY AWAKE, LAZYBONES. AND YOU BROUGHT YOUR SHEETS DOWN! IT'S ABOUT TIME YOU WASHED THEM!" Papyrus poked his head out of the kitchen.

Despite being blinded, Sans was relieved. He took the blankets off his head and threw them at the couch. He'd either sleep there later, or actually wash them. Bringing them back to his room would be too much of a bother, or so he decided.

Of course, Papyrus wasn't done talking. "DID YOU SLEEP WELL? ...I WAS WORRIED ABOUT YOU. I DIDN'T SEE YOU ALL DAY, AND GRILLBY SAID YOU DIDN'T VISIT AT ALL. DID YOU HAVE A NIGHTMARE?"

"no," Sans replied, "i just..." He realized that this would probably be the best time he was going to get to tell his brother about everything. No point leaving it for later.

"pap, do you have a minute? or, well, a bit more than a minute..."

There was a click, possibly of a stove being turned off, followed by several more, organic, clicks as Papyrus walked over to Sans.

"DID SOMETHING HAPPEN? ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" The taller skeleton looked at his brother in concern.

"yes and no... it's a bit of a long story." And thus Sans began.

Sometime during his recounting, Papyrus had wrapped his arms around him and sat down on the couch with him.

"SO GASTER... IS...?" It took quite a while to explain everything.

Sans shrugged. "dunno. he said he built the core."

Papyrus narrowed his eyesockets. "BUT DIDN'T ...SOMEONE ELSE... BUILD THE CORE?" Everyone knew who built the Core. He'd just forgotten the name momentarily. He'll remember it some time later, with a snap of his fingers and an "AHA!" at some random time.

The name was on the tip of Sans' nonexistent tongue. "yeah, weird huh?" He scratched the back of his skull. "but something about him... seemed really familiar..." Almost unconsciously, Sans was signing his impressions of the monster with his fingers. Gaster reminded him of a distant memory, something akin to a long-forgotten dream.

Papyrus unwrapped himself from Sans and started signing back, not even realizing that they were no longer speaking with their voices. He asked Sans to tell him more, wanting to know every detail he could remember.

Sans, unfortunately, didn't know very much. But the hands Gaster summoned were familiar, and there was _something_ about the way he spoke in scientific terms.

It didn't take very long for Sans to run out of information, and the two brothers were left looking at each other, thinking about Gaster.

Papyrus broke the silence. "SO. WE WILL BE SEEING A HUMAN TOMORROW?"

Sans nodded. "yeah, probably."

"AND. THEY ARE DANGEROUS."

"yeah."

"..."

"..."

The silence didn't stay broken for very long.

* * *

 _You wake up on a field of flowers. Sunlight streams in from the hole above you. You get up, walking to leave the room as you've done, so many times before, the patch of flowers reminding you of a certain yellow flower, a monster prince, his parents. You leave the room, and see the flower is not there. Not too surprising. He doesn't show up every time. You wait, and Toriel comes and leads you as she always has. She doesn't remember the flavour of pie you chose. She leads you to the dummy and tells you to speak to it. You comply. It's not much for conversation. Nothing new yet. You continue, and your curiosity fills you with determination. You want to see what Sans is going to do._

* * *

 **A/N:** A little determination goes a long way. A lot of determination goes even farther.

And this is not relevant to my note.

I considered making this chapter longer, but then the last bit seemed like a good place to stop for now. Do tell me if you want chapters to be longer or shorter or whatever.


	4. Sans meets Omega Flowey

The look on their face was completely unreadable. But there was no dust on their hands. They turned around when Sans came up from behind them.

"heh. seems you do know how to greet an old pal."

They shook hands. The whoopie cushion in the hand trick did its thing.

"the old whoopie cushion in the hand trick. it's always funny."

The kid just looked at him blankly.

"tough crowd."

Sans judged them carefully. **LV 1. They look bored.**

"welcome to snowdin, kiddo. heading to the capital, huh?" He stretched his hand out again. "c'mere. i know a shortcut."

They just needed to get out of the Underground, right? No fighting, no mess. Just a hop over to the Barrier, and they'll be on their way.

The kid took his hand and Sans took a shortcut.

"there ya go. no muss, no fuss."

The kid looked at the barrier. They poked it. It didn't yield. They looked at Sans. Sans was confused.

Without warning, the child started laughing.

"You _idiot_ ," they said, with a wicked grin, "At this rate, you'll never see the Surface!" And with that, they walked away from the barrier towards the king.

Sans followed them, watching them and wondering what the hell was going on. A memory surfaced at the back of his mind. _"The barrier can be entered by any human... but leaving requires both a human and a monster soul."_ And only Boss monster souls remained long enough for a human to see, let alone touch.

"oh." Sans didn't know what to do. He found himself stuck, watching as the kid approached Asgore and fought him. Watching again. There was nothing he could do. It didn't matter what he did. Asgore wouldn't stop. There was no way to get rid of the kid peacefully.

The kid didn't do much damage. They did only have one Level of Violence, after all. Though it did make Sans wonder how it'd reset if they still remembered killing people. Did going back make them less inclined to hurt others?

The kid almost killed Asgore by the time the old king relented, but to Sans' surprise, they spared him, and he swore he saw them glance to him for an instant.

Then a bullet flew out of nowhere and hit the king. His soul was exposed but for a moment when another bullet hit it and caused it to shatter.

That was when a yellow flower who'd stolen six souls took control of the timeline, and everything went black.

* * *

"Sans? Sans! You can't give up yet! They need you."

* * *

Everything was black. Whether Sans' eyes were opened or closed, everything looked the same.

No, wait. Off in the distance, a light? Focusing on that light, Sans took a shortcut as close to it as he could manage. It had to be impossibly far away, as after he took the shortcut, it was still off in the distance. But he could make out that it was multiple lights close together, rather than just one. So he did it again.

And again. And again. Every time, it seemed to be just a little closer, and he could make out just a little more. But progress was slow, and at times, it felt as if the lights were receding from him. But each shortcut brought him closer, and every time he could see a little more encouraged him to keep going. He wouldn't give up.

And when he was just close enough to see what was going on, he reached out.

The souls turned blue. All seven of them. Sans raised his arms and pushed them to either side with a forceful gesture. Flowey's convoluted form and the kid were thrown to opposite sides while Sans took one final shortcut between them.

"k, you two need ta have a _time_ out. let's talk."


End file.
